A Brief Chapter from the Book of Ex Mukti Bahni Terrorist, Lft. Col. Shariful Haq Dalim

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by Lt. Col. Shariful Haq Dalim

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It is said that blood is thicker than water, which implies a stronger bond between two persons having any blood relationship. Bondage of faith and way of life is even thicker. Pakistan and Bangladesh are two brothers born from the womb of the same mother. No big deal if by misfortune they parted ways from each other, still their remains a strong sense of togetherness and commonality. When Pakistani Cricket team plays against India in Dubai the Bengali people cheer the latter team, when earthquake hit Pakistan Bangladeshi people felt the pains of the hit, when floods affect Bangladesh Pakistanis feel emotionally inundated.

Religion is the sacred cord that binds both of them together tightly. Islam is a different religion from others in the sense that who ever enters in its fold becomes a member of a community called Ummah. Geographical and political boundaries mean very little to the Ummah, in this sense Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are just two sections of Ummah punctuated by a little alien territory.

Mutual historic experience is yet another common ground between them. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis jointly waged a bloody and protracted war against a double headed dragon, one of its head represented by the Britons and the Hindus formed the other. Bengali leaders like Maulana Bhashani, Sher-e-Bangla Maulvi Fazlul Haq, Nawab Sir Saliumulah Khan, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi, Khawaja Nazimmudin etc, were those political heavy weights whose very name sent cold shivers down the spine of mighty British rulers.

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Economic prospects

During pre-71 era Pakistan and Bangladesh were two parts of a single economy complimentary to each other. Most of the industrial units were established in present Pakistan while Bangladesh produced raw materials. Before 1947 partition, West Bengal had industry while East Bengal produced raw material and also it was consumer market for finished goods of India particularly West Bengal. When East Bengal became part of Pakistan Western Bengal was incorporated in India and its industry came to grinding halt due to unavailability of raw material and consumer market.

This development greatly hurt and annoyed Indians who started planning to re-integrate the Eastern part. However, even today there remains striking congruity between economies of the two countries. Accordingly, total volume of Pakistan and Bangladesh trade is 13 billion dollars of which their mutual trades fluctuates between 120-150 million dollars. Bangladesh imports 12% of its total requirements from India (volume of smuggling is not included), while Bangladeshi exports to India are negligible due to latter’s high protective tariff and strict anti dumping laws. While Pakistan offers no such negative barriers to trade with Bangladesh. Pakistan needs Bangladeshi tea, fiber, jute etc while Bangladesh can profitably import light and medium engineering equipments, cotton, dry and fresh fruits, electrical appliances (fans, washing machines air coolers etc) from Pakistan. Last but not the least the economy of Bangladesh and Pakistan are complimentary where as economy of India is competitive to both Bangladesh and Pakistan.

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Problems stymieing Socio-economic relations

. Everything fits well except Indian factor in the development of Pak-Bangladesh socio-economic relations. In fact a conspiracy to weaken the two Muslim nations hatched by Indians during 60’s has not ceased to function. A war has since then continued only interrupted by lull periods. Any kind of gain either by Pakistan of Bangladesh is loss for India. Direct trade between the two could only be established at the cost of Indian economic interests. So India will fight tooth and nail to deter not only development of trade but any kind of relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh be it economic, political, strategic and diplomatic. 26 March of every year India spends huge sums of money in Bangladesh to re-enact drama which it concocted in 1971. This way India wants to poison minds of young Bengalis, who see Pakistan as their brother in faith and arms. The Chanakkays know that it has to leave Bangladesh bag and baggage on the day young Bengalis came to see its gory face in true light. For Pakistanis, they have always kept their heart, mind and arms open for their Bengali brothers and in future they will spare no effort to endear and befriend them with the same spirit and heart to fight together against the nefarious design of the ‘Big Brother’ to protect mutual interests. There should not be even an iota of doubt that the very survival of these two brotherly Muslim countries is inter-dependent. Thus, a steal like relation between Bangladesh and Pakistan in all fronts is the key to survival which should not be lost at any cost.